Pussy Riot rockers Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were arrested by police in Russia on Tuesday just hours ahead of a planned protest performance at the Winter Olympics. The two women, who …

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Pussy Riot rockers Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were arrested by police in Russia on Tuesday just hours ahead of a planned protest performance at the Winter Olympics.

The two women, who were released from prison in December from a two-year sentence for protesting against President Vladimir Putin at a church in Moscow, were held on an allegation of theft from a hotel but later freed without charge.

In a determined bid to re-launch their political activism, they had headed to Sochi, Russia on Sunday, where the Winter Olympics have been taking place under the shadow of tension over the country’s gay rights laws.

They planned to join up with other Pussy Riot members and stage a protest against the leader by performing their new song “Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland,” but they were arrested along with other activists and several journalists.

Tolokonnikova alleges she and Alekhina were grilled by security service officials on Monday and have been under surveillance since arriving in the region.

In a post on Twitter, she writes, “We are in Sochi in order to carry out a Pussy Riot action. The song is called, Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland.”

She and Alekhina were among a group of 10 activists and journalists who were reportedly arrested by Sochi police on Tuesday.

The two Pussy Riot members were released after several hours, and a police spokesman said, “A survey in connection with the theft at the Hotel Adler is completed, there is no claim against those questioned.”

Tolokonnikova and her bandmate Maria Alekhina were sentenced to serve two years behind bars on hooliganism charges in August after performing a protest song about Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral last February.

The punk star has allegedly been suffering with headaches since last spring, but her health issues worsened in October when she was transferred to a strict prison colony, where she works as a seamstress and jacket maker.

And last week Tolokonnikova was finally taken to a medical center in Mordovia for a full analysis.

Her bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich tells Rain TV, “They don’t allow her to have any rest; she works nearly round the clock. She said she feels tired, extremely tired.”

Meanwhile, Alekhina has also complained about the conditions at a prison colony in the Ural Mountains, threatening to stage a hunger strike if they become unbearable.

Alekhina, who lost an appeal a month ago and now faces an indefinite term behind bars, recently told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper she was placed in solitary confinement for 90 days in November to protect her from other inmates.

The vegetarian reveals she has been cooking her own food from products provided by friends and fans.